Lancaster (Short Film)

[Art]

This is an interesting little film.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sSXiny5mEpg

One thing to note. Brit heavy bombers (perhaps all Brit bombers in WWII) did not carry a co pilot. Only one guy was on the flight deck, the Aircraft Commander. His instrumentation was minimal to fly the plane. Most of the gages and other controls we see in the cockpit of an American bomber were under the control of the flight engineer who was not on the flight deck but below and behind the pilot. The flight engineer had a little bit of basic flight training but his chances of bringing a damaged heavy bomber home were quite slim. Therefore, if the Aircraft Commander "bought it" it was time to "hit the silk."

[Art]

Correction: The first of the British "Heavies," the Short Sterling did in fact have two pilots on the flight deck but it was, from what I can tell, the sole exception.

[togor]

And "hitting the silk" was a lot easier said than done from RAF bombers of that era. You have to get out of the plane in one piece before you can deploy the 'chute.

Any in-depth analysis of the RAF's night bombing campaign makes for depressing reading. A country that was so reticent to send young men into frontal assaults on the channel coast was nonetheless willing to see them chewed up piecemeal in the night skies over Europe.

[lyman]

https://www.lancaster-archive.com/lanc_interior.htm

[Art]

https://www.lancaster-archive.com/lanc_interior.htm

After the war it was common to retrofit Lancasters (and other Brit bombers) to take a co pilot, especially if the aircraft left the RAF. An important safety picture in my humble opinion. The top pic shows the flight deck of a Lancaster that has been so modified. The Pilots instrument panel picture is the Aircraft Commander's position in an unmodified Lancaster.

Abandoning a B17 wasn't a piece of cake for everyone involved either. Neither the ball turret or tail gunner could wear a parachute in their position. The tail gunner had to wiggle out of his position, put on his 'chute and exit preferably through the bomb bay if available. The ball turret gunner was in the worst shape. He had to enter the turret with the barrels pointed straight down. After he got in he was locked in and couldn't get out without the guns, again, pointed straight down and someone to release him. If the electricity failed when the order came to "abandon ship" the ball turret gunner was well and truly screwed. The front and rear gunners in a Lancaster entered their turrets through a good size door. The rear turret gunner also couldn't wear a 'chute, but it was right behind him. The plan for him was to open the door, put on the 'chute, rotate the turret 90 degrees left or right and just fall out the door.

[togor]

Loss rate (KIA) for Bomber Command put at a stiff 46%. How much of that was the aircraft and how much was the mission, open to debate.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RAF_Bomber_Command_aircrew_of_World_War_II#:~:text =Bomber%20Command%20aircrews%20suffered%20a,9%2C83 8%20became%20prisoners%20of%20war.

US AAF bomber duty was at least or more hazardous until command pulled its collective head out of its collective ass and decided to do something about fighters. But by spring '44 the day fighter problem was much reduced.

[Art]

Loss rate (KIA) for Bomber Command put at a stiff 46%. How much of that was the aircraft and how much was the mission, open to debate.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RAF_Bomber_Command_aircrew_of_World_War_II#:~:text =Bomber%20Command%20aircrews%20suffered%20a,9%2C83 8%20became%20prisoners%20of%20war.

US AAF bomber duty was at least or more hazardous until command pulled its collective head out of its collective ass and decided to do something about fighters. But by spring '44 the day fighter problem was much reduced.

One of the most effective NAZI developments against night bombardment was "Schrage Musik" (sp) this was a kit in which the Germans put cannons firing up at an angle behind the cockpit of a night fighter. The fighter would fly under the Brit bomber and blow it out of the air. Brit bombers originally had a belly turret but this was removed to install a ground mapping radar that made night bombing much more effective. We eventually put it on all of our B17s as well. However no belly turret meant no downward view. When attacked by a Schrage Musik equipped fighter the bomber crew literally didn't know what hit them; in fact the Brits didn't figure it out for over a year because literally no bomber attacked by a night fighter so equipped made it home. Survivability of crews hit by this devastating weapon was extremely low. Even some German pilots were appalled by the effectiveness of the system and started to try to destroy a bomber in a way that would give the crew some chance of escape. German radar directed flak was just as effective in the night time as the day time. Brit countermeasures would solve the problem for a while but the NAZIs always found a solution. Only one pilot couldn't have helped either. If the plane in the vid had a second pilot it may well have survived.

Despite the fact that night bombing was more hazardous day bombing even when the Brit heavies were escorted by night fighters the Brits stuck to it largely because they had developed equipment that was so specialized that changing over would have been too time consuming and expensive.

[dogtag]

The belly gunner in a B17 would pray they didn't have to crash land,
especially if the landing gear wouldn't deploy.
If it wasn't a "Volunteer" position, it should have been.